He may no longer be Fine Gael leader or taoiseach but Leo Varadkar has certainly set one of the big agendas for the general election with a bold call for every party to make a pledge on Irish unity.
“For a lot of people, unification is an aspiration, it’s an idea. Whereas I think it needs to become an objective for the next government in Ireland, no matter who’s in that government,’ he says.
Is this stealing a bit of Sinn Féin’s thunder or playing into its hands? His interview with Mark Hennessy at Notre Dame University in Indiana is fascinating and even includes a suggestion that the Dáil could sit in Stormont at times, in a post-unification State.
Is it probably a bit further than Simon Harris would be prepared to go? Certainly it seems a good step further than Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin’s view.
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I would be very surprised if Sinn Féin does not use it as another basis in its argument on a border poll.
Can Sinn Féin reverse its decline in popularity before the election?
Politics returns to normal, domestic fare
After a week in the Big Apple it’s back to the Small Potatoes, otherwise known as Oireachtas politics, for Simon Harris, Micheál Martin and Eamon Ryan.
Even though Simon Harris is going back within a fortnight for a White House shindig with US president Joe Biden.
And it will be straight into it. The Cabinet has deferred its weekly meeting until this morning. Jack Horgan-Jones was on manoeuvres for us yesterday and has identified some of the main items that will be discussed.
Harris will tell colleagues he will bring the findings of the Dublin city taskforce to Cabinet within the next two weeks. He will also give an update on a major new plan for the north inner city, arising from the work of the north inner city taskforce. Additional CCTV cameras will be installed in areas where there is high antisocial behaviour. The plan will also look at ways of subsidising primary schoolchildren to attend out-of-school activities and clubs, as well as setting up new clubs for this age group.
Ryan’s new role and O’Gorman’s defence of accommodation payments
Both the present Green Party leader, Roderic O’Gorman, and his predecessor, Eamon Ryan, were in the news yesterday. Kevin O’Sullivan reports that Ryan will have the lead role for climate adaptation talks at the next COP gathering of the United Nations.
O’Sullivan reports he will lead talks at the upcoming UN climate negotiations in Azerbaijan on scaling up support to ensure vulnerable countries become more resilient to global warming impacts.
Separately, O’Gorman gave a spirited defence of a Government scheme that pays homeowners and landlords €800 per month tax-free to give accommodation to Ukrainian refugees.
Marie O’Halloran reports that Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty criticised the scheme, saying it should only be open to host families, and not include properties that “really should be on the private rental market”.
O’Gorman, in turn, criticised Doherty and said that if that were to happen thousands of Ukrainians could be left homeless. Labour leader Ivana Bacik also had a cut at Doherty, accusing him of singling out Ukrainians amid a housing crisis.
The €1.4 million security hut
You have heard the one about the bicycle shed that cost €335,000. What about the security hut that cost a cool €1.4 million?
When the story of the bicycle shelter first emerged, curious journalists and politicians wondered aloud how much the new security hut, with granite, glass and a wonderful curved copper roof might have cost.
They got their answer yesterday. Chair of the OPW, John Conlan told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that it cost €1.4 million. Tánaiste Micheál Martin, speaking in New York, said the price was “ridiculous” and said he was shocked to hear it cost so much.
Conlon defended the cost, saying there were many unseen elements, including elaborate security, electronic and mechanical features.
There was also a bit of blowback from the OPW against the Oireachtas Commission, whose chairman, Seán Ó Fearghail castigated the high cost of the bicycle shelter.
Conlan also revealed that the OPW had offered to put in an uncovered bicycle stand between Leinster House and Government Buildings at a pittance but the same Commission ruled it out on security grounds.
Morning Reads
Miriam Lord’s take on “wildly expensive lean-tos”.
Shauna Bowers reports on the Oireachtas Health Committee meeting which focused on the spiralling costs of the NCH.
Fine Gael senator Jerry Buttimer has been added to his party’s ticket for Cork South Central.
The Taoiseach met Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in New York late on Tuesday. Here is Jennifer Bray’s report.
Here’s Jennifer’s analysis of the trip.
Playbook
The Cabinet meets this morning.
Dáil
Between 9am and noon Ministers Helen McEntee and Charlie McConalogue will separately take parliamentary questions.
12pm: Leaders’ Questions.
13.49pm: Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill 2024 – Second Stage
19:23pm Private Members’ Bill or Committee Report (alternating weekly): Local Authority Public Administration Bill 2023.
20:38pm: Dáil adjourns
Seanad
11.45pm: Gambling Regulation Bill 2022.
The Government is keen to get this substantial Bill passed into law before the election.
14.45pm: Motor Insurance Insolvency Compensation Bill 2024 – Second Stage.
Committees
9.30am Committee of Public Accounts.
Financial Statements 2023 from Uisce Éireann.
9.30am: Social Protection Committee.
ESRI’s Report on Poverty, Income Inequality and Living Standards in Ireland: Fourth Annual Report.
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